Puebla: Tom Coronel weekend summary

SEAT DRIVER TOM CORONEL SUCCESSFUL IN FIA-WTCC RACES IN MEXICO
The second race weekend of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (FIA
WTCC) took place at the twisty track of Puebla in Mexico. A high altitude
circuit with a small racing line and...

SEAT DRIVER TOM CORONEL SUCCESSFUL IN FIA-WTCC RACES IN MEXICO

The second race weekend of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (FIA
WTCC) took place at the twisty track of Puebla in Mexico. A high altitude
circuit with a small racing line and next to it a lot of sand and gravel.
SEAT Team Holland driver Tom Coronel was in good shape at this track.
From the first practice sessions on he was up with the best and he
started the first race from third position. In this race Coronel drove
his SEAT Leon, prepared by the Spanish SunRed team to a fine fourth place
and took some valuable championship points. The Dutchman started the
second race of the day from the third row of the grid and finished in
sixth place. With this result he was the first petrol engined car to
cross the finish following the five SEAT diesel powered cars that were
ahead of him. In the championship Tom is now in eighth place with 10
points.

Tom Coronel who celebrated his 36th birthday this weekend was fairly
satisfied with the proceedings. I was up there from the first moment on.
I just like the track here and it perfectly suits us. It is relatively
short, so engine power is not as important as on other tracks. Also it is
quite slippery, especially when you are off the racing line. In free
practice the car was handling well from the start. I was driving on used
tyres for a long time and the setup was still good. I had a good start
in race one. From the people around me I had the least power and with
Rickard Rydell on the outside of the first corner I lost two places.
After that I was pushing and fighting and ultimately I regained one
position. After that it was not too exciting, although the laptimes were
good. It is a shame that we just lost out to a podium spot, but we are
happy with the points for the championship and the good start position
for race two.

The second race was more entertaining for me, although again I lost some
positions in the opening part. This was partly due to the slow start of
Jordi Gene. I could not pass him so I had to fight with Andy Priaulx
(BMW) and Rob Huff (Chevrolet). Ahead of me there were only the SEAT
Sport diesel Leons, so I was the first of the non diesel cars. I finished
the race in sixth place, which is a repeat of the result I had here
earlier. However at that occasion I was the quickest SEAT driver but that
was not on the cards today. For the next WTCC weekend, that will take
place at Valencia I will have a new engine. At the 14th and 15th of April
there will be a FIA test. I will drive the SEAT Sport test car there in
order to learn more about the car and the track.